The invention relates to milling machines.
In a known milling machine of the type disclosed in DE 25 21 036 B2, the tool spindle is free to move in a gibbet arrangement on the operator-side end of a Y-carriage, which itself may be moved on an X-carriage. The guides for the X-carriage are located at the rear end of the machine stage in an area behind a chip area extending crosswise.
The volume of chips produced by milling machines can be relatively large. Enlargement of the chip area in the known devices leads to a condition in which the instability arising from the gibbet arrangement in a known machine may be increased because the X-axis guides must move further to the rear on the machine stage, thus increasing the gibbet arm length.
Portal milling machines are also known in which the tool spindle axis extends either horizontally or vertically. In such known machines, the stability of the machine is essentially determined by laterally-mounted connecting cheeks between the machine frame and the guide areas arranged horizontally above.
Based on the state of the art mentioned above, the invention provides a milling machine that allows the formation of a relatively large chip receptacle volume without interfering with milling machine head movement while providing increased machine stiffness and a compact design.